Avatar: The Beast Wars, Ch. 8
Warnings Introducing Characters Yue: the moon spirit Warnings Sokka dozed off on the flight to the Fire Nation. It was a clear night with a full moon, and while normally Sokka would gaze at a full moon for hours, tonight he couldn't help falling asleep. It was as though a fog had fallen over him as he laid back against his pack which he used for a pillow. Aang gasped and clasped a hand to the side of his head. Katara leaned forward from the saddle to rest a hand on his shoulder, "Are you all right?" Aang shook his head like a dog trying to shake water from its ears, "Yeah I'm... I'm fine. Just a little headache." "Well, if you say so," but it was clear from her voice that she wasn't convinced. Suddenly Sokka sat bolt upright, "Guys, we've got a problem." What Aang and Katara hadn't seen had happened entirely in Sokka's head because it was a dream. Sokka woke up slowly and sat up scratching his head, something wasn't quite right. Then he realized what it was; He was sitting on a cloud. He looked around confused and then someone caught his jaw, turned his head and kissed him. He jerked back in confusion and surprise, then his jaw dropped, "Yue?!" "Hi Sokka," the moon spirit smiled. Sokka's heart couldn't decide whether to thunder with a million a minute beat, or stop. Yue looked every bit as beautiful as she had in life, maybe even a little better, and the otherworldly glow wasn't hurting. "What...? How...? You're here!" Sokka grabbed her in a hug. She hugged him back and then pulled back with a sad look in her eye, "Sokka, I came to warn you. There's something bad coming." Sokka's brow furrowed, "What?" Yue pointed and Sokka turned to see what looked like massive roiling black storm front, which seemed to boil with an unearthly rage. Strange shapes writhed within it as lightning of an unnatural blue lit frightful silhouettes against the black clouds. Sokka's eyes widened in fear, "What is that?" "I don't know," Yue replied, "It's covered most of the other side of the world for as long as I've been the moon spirit, it obscures my view so I can't see anything. I don't know what's causing it, but it's spreading. I can see it better in the spirit world, whatever those shapes are inside the cloudbank, I think they're the source of it. "Whatever they are, they always move at night, that's how I know they're coming. The scene shifted and suddenly Sokka and Yue were floating over the ocean, which was roiling with the most powerful current Sokka had ever seen. Yue pointed, "I've done my best to slow them by turning the tides against them, but they can fly where they can't swim." Sokka saw what looked like a dark wave rocket out of the surf at the edge of the current, then it took flight. The mass of darkness flowed effortlessly around water spouts which formed simultaneously in its path. They surged past Sokka and Yue, Sokka catching fleeting glimpses of fur and feathers and scales through the nimbuses of dark blue and purple energy that surrounded the creatures. "There's an army of them," Sokka said in quiet horror. "These are just the forerunners Sokka. I've caught glimpses of their true army just before the storm overtakes them. Standing one next to the other, they could fill Ba Seng Se to its outer walls." The scene shifted again and they were on a rocky coast as the swarm of creatures boiled out of the sea and dropped from the sky, shaking water off and somehow changing from reptilian and winged forms to immense wolves before bounding forward to make room for their comrades. Yue looked grim, "This is the south western coast of the Fire Nation, and this happened over a week ago. I wanted to tell you sooner, but this is the first time since I saw them coming that I've had the strength to contact you." "What are they?" Sokka asked. "I don't know," Yue said quietly, "The only thing I've ever seen that was anything like them is Aang. It's like they're angry spirits clothed in flesh, but I don't know how that's even possible." "Wait what? You mean they're like evil Avatars?" "I don't know what they are Sokka, but I know that they like to attack by surprise. Maybe forewarning everyone will help defeat them. Maybe it won't. All I know is that if they attack, and nobody's ready for them, they'll keep going until their storm covers the world." "How do we stop them?" "I don't know, but you must find a way if the world is to be saved." Suki and the other Kyoshi Warriors staggered into the inn and seated themselves. The innkeeper hurried over to offer them food and ask if they were entertainers. Entertainers were always good for business. Suki wearily confirmed that they were not entertainers, but they were in need of a healer if he could recommend one. Suki sent Ming, the least battered of the group, to find the healer the innkeeper recommended and then slumped back in her chair, still shocked over the loss of Ty Lee. A quarter of an hour later, Ming returned with an elderly man and a one legged man limping on a crutch. The elderly man took one look at the battered girls and immediately began checking them over. Ming helped the one legged man into a chair and introduced him as Zozi, "I think you might want to hear what he has to say." Zozi leaned his crutch against the back of his chair and winced as he shifted a little, "Ming tells me you were attacked by a flying monster?" Suki nodded, "Yes." "Did it look like a giant wolf bat with burning red eyes?" Suki's eyes widened, "How did you..." Zozi pointed at the stump of his leg, "Three guesses. I was walking around just fine a week ago." "Oh..." Zozi snorted, "Yeah, and it wasn't alone. There's an army of those things. They came out of nowhere and fell out of the sky like a thousand fire breathing demons. They burned my village to the ground and I don't know if they ate everybody or carried them off, but there was nobody left when I woke up. That was two days ago. I managed to limp here. I've got to find a messenger hawk to report in, but I had to stop at Han's," he nodded towards the healer, "to get my leg looked at. It's been bleeding steadily since that thing bit it off. Han there can't believe I'm alive, let alone that I was able to drag myself twenty miles to get here." Suki traded glances with Ming and Lei before turning back to Zozi, "We're actually on a mission from the Fire Lord. He sent us to find his sister. We lost her trail a few days ago. I think she may have been taken by one of those monsters. We found tracks, but we were attacked before we could follow them too far. It took one of our friends after it defeated us. Our swords and chi blocking were useless against it." Zozi frowned, "Then we need to warn the Fire Lord." Suki turned to Ming, "Go find a messenger hawk." Ming hurried off. Next Chapter 9 Blood